Venezuela art exhibit focuses on Hugo Chavez

A group of Venezuelan artists has contributed paintings of President Hugo Chavez for a new government-organized exhibit dedicated to the ailing leader.

The exhibit includes portraits of Chavez with his daughters and his mother, as well as a painting of a saluting Chavez superimposed on a map of South America.

The exhibit is titled "Chavez Lives and Will Prevail." Museum director Lidoska Pirela said a group of artists decided to show their work to both honor Chavez and wish him well in his struggle with cancer.

The exhibit opened Wednesday in the Caracas Museum located in city mayor's office and will be on display for two weeks.

The 23 works are mostly paintings but also include two photographs.

One work depicts Chavez's face painted with an indigenous-style design. Another painting features a white horse and an image of a young Chavez wearing his signature red beret when, as an army paratroop commander, he led a failed coup attempt in 1992.

"It speaks to all the periods of Chavez," said Maritza Gonzalez, one of those who visited the exhibit on Thursday.

The 58-year-old president has been fighting an unspecified type of pelvic cancer and remains in Cuba more than five weeks after he underwent surgery. He hasn't spoken or appeared publicly since the operation.

* CORRECTS TITLE OF EXHIBIT * A visitor poses for a picture next to a painting of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez at the art exhibit titled "Chavez Vive y Vencera" or Chavez Lives and Will Prevail, displaying more than 20 paintings of the South American leader, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Normally at the center of national attention, Chavez is so ill following a fourth cancer surgery in Cuba that some Venezuelans have begun speculating about whether his cancer could force him from office and require a new presidential election. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)